Senior stories Horace Wee

 MUSIC PEOPLE AND PLACES

by Horace Wee

A child born in the turbulence of a World War and the Japanese invasion of South East Asia, time may have dimmed many memories. Yet I still recall short vivid flashes of vision and sound from those early years. Rose syrup sunsets at Port Dickson when my father perched me on the veranda railings and my aunt rattling a bamboo pole to chase away a musang (wild cat). The rumbling sounds of British military vehicles on a road in Kuala Lumpur/Malaya after the Japanese surrender and the long hot trip by rail to Singapore.

Returning to the British Colonial administration of Singapore, streets were rather chaotic .Vendors with push carts, make shift stalls or just baskets were everywhere. The music trends were still reminiscent of the pre-war era. Crooners such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Dean Martin, Eddie Fisher, cowboy singers Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Rosemary Clooney, Patti Page, Doris Day, Patsy Kline, Loretta Lynn, the Andrew Sisters and many others were popular with songs like Cruising Down The River, Truly Truly Fair, Doggie in the Window. The professional musicians who had joined the Japanese Syonan orchestra returned to playing at live entertainment venues. For cheap entertainment, the public flocked to amusement parks like The Great, Happy and New World where one would find stalls selling everything from household goods, snacks, and simple games such as an air rifle shooting gallery. Occasional trade fairs offered more choices. At times, a female vocalist singing in Mandarin would permeate through the crowd noise. In shopping areas such as Rochore, South Bridge Roads and Chinatown, from dingy shops, one would also hear the sounds of the Rediffusion cable radio network blaring Western and Chinese music interspersed with simple advertising jingles.

On warm evenings, with the scent of the sea along the East Coast road, many would head for the seaside at the end of Bedok. Rows of carts lit by hurricane and carbide lamps would be serving local delicacies like “rojak”(local shrimp paste tossed salad ) and toasted cuttlefish served with spicy sauces.

The Expatriates

The islands ambience at the shipping crossroads was certainly a lure for many visitors to stay.

Slava Tairoff a White Russian, came via Peking China. He was the bandleader at then exclusive British Tanglin Club as well as the President of The Musicians Union in 50/60s. After many years he left for Australia.

Louis Moyser a Hungarian, played in the Radio Malaya/Singapore orchestra and gave violin lessons at his flat in Eu Court. So did Dirk Kalf a violinist and Dutchman who lived at then distant Serangoon Gardens.

Dan Hopkins was a drummer who also worked in the Radio Orchestra

Filipinos also came and many were prominent in music circles. 

The Anciano family formed The Far Eastern School of Music successfully teaching many students. There was also Fred Libio, Villanuevas, Buenaventuras, Bacsafras, Lachicas and music powerhouse the Solianos. Others such as trumpeter Olympio Galauras family were apparently from a visiting circus.

 

The guitarist Ike Isaacs worked here and subsequently left for London/Europe where he worked as a studio musician. He spent his latter years playing with jazz violinist Stephan Grappellis band.

Dick Abel a guitarist of Dutch descent hailing from Indonesia led the Radio Malaya (Singapore) Orchestra after the previous leader Cor Rife. He moved to London, after which Gus Steyn a pianist and Dutchman who also came via Indonesia succeeded Dick Abel as the orchestra leader. 

Gus Steyn moved to Kuala Lumpur and led the Radio Malaysia Orchestra for a number of years before passing away. Ahmad Jaafar took over the leaders baton until his retirement.

Caesar Alano a Filipino and Les Weddell from Britain both held successively the trombone chair in the radio orchestra. Caesar left for Thailand and Les returned to the UK. 

Johari Salleh a local trumpet player eventually became the music director for Radio Television Malaysia.

Trudy Connor and Eddie Gomez were a piano playing couple popular at hotel lounges.

Many local musicians and performers made their mark.

Violinists Susheela Devi, Clara Verghese, Alphonso Anthony, Julai Tan, pianists Theresa Filmer (nee Khoo), Charles Lazaroo and trumpeter Tony Castillo were among them.

Singers Saloma, Julie Sudiro, Kartina Dahari, Peggy Tan and Ahmad Daud were popular during those days.

MUSIC INDUSTRY

Professional musicians supplemented their income giving formal music lessons. Victor Dogget was a successful piano teacher as well as a music critic. Madeline Aitken had an almost larger than life reputation for successful results with piano examination candidates. For violin lessons its unforgettable to mention Goh Soon Tio who discovered the Chinatown violin prodigy Lee Pan Hon.

Music shops were limited, mostly dealing in pianos with additional items like violins. Keller Piano, Nang Heng, Petrof Piano and Season Music were some, with shops like Swee Lee at the Capitol Building and TMA at High Street expanding eventually to sell wind instruments, guitars, drums and other related items.

Music material was largely limited to books, the radio and records, with an occasional recital from a renowned classical performer like violinist Isaac Stern and popular performers such as Johnny Ray, The Platters, Cliff Richard with the Shadows and even the Rolling Stones in the early 60s.

Musicians would tune to the Voice of America with Willis Conover on shortwave radios to listen to the latest trends in jazz. Many small shops, piano stores and even the night street markets sold records. The dedicated record shops would have been Kwang Sia, Multichord with Supreme and The Attic coming later.

LIVE ENTERTAINMENT

Live performances were everywhere, catering for the diverse races. Chinese Opera (Wayangs) on flimsy stages for many Chinese dialects, Malay dancing (Ronggeng), cabarets, bars, hotels, night clubs from upscale to rougher ones offered many choices to listen, drink or dance to favourite music. Operations were until midnight with an extension to 1am on Saturdays or on the eve of a public holiday. 

With the building of international hotels in the 60s, hotel lounges became very popular. The more formal concerts were held at The Victoria Memorial Hall and Theatre. International performances like the Holiday On Ice, would have been staged at the Happy World Stadium and occasionally some at the Badminton Hall. When the National Stadium was built at the foot of Fort Canning, visiting performers like Shirley Bassey, The Yardbirds, Hollies and local variety shows with artists like Rita & Sakura performed there.

At the beginning of Orchard Road was the Golden Venus located at the basement of the Orchard Hotel. This was where everyone would be directed to if they wanted an evening of jazz music. Pianist Ernesto Daroya held court as the resident bandleader of a quartet together with vocalists Mariam and Ronnie Ong. Officially it was the hotel bar and dining room that became a night club after 10pm.Visiting musicians would sit in during those nights and at times if one was lucky, some famous jazz musician would be seen jamming with the band. Musicians from the British Royal Air Force band would also participate in these sessions. There was Johnny Hicks, Chris Ede on drums and Roger on tenor saxophone. Weekends could turn out chaotic as members of the British Forces would populate the club. Drunken brawls at times interrupted the evenings. Sunday afternoons were jazz jam sessions until the management found by the mid 60s, pop music bands were more lucrative.

Across the road was The Barberella at the Ming Court hotel. Imported bands like the Pitiful Souls, Black Fire Prophecy would share the spot light with local bands such as The Trailers and my own group Crossroads. Along the adjacent Orange Grove Road is the Shangri-La Hotel. A five star hotel that boasted a supper club The Tiara at the top floor, a bar and a club at the basement called the Lost Horizon. The Xperiment and Western Union, popular local bands, would perform there and at the Peacock bar, famous Singapore cowboy Matthew Tan would entertain country music fans. Francis Yip from Hong Kong, Pilita Corrales from the Philippines and a variety of international acts performed at the Tiara. The multi purpose ballrooms would also present musical shows such as The Three Degrees and Trini Lopez.

A short walk from the Barberella, was the Singapura Hotel where a top notch Filipino band led by Romy Posadas featuring his wife Rita on vocals would be performing. The dining room and club would on occasion host shows such as The Ginny Tiu Sisters fresh from their movie It Happened At The Worlds Fair with Elvis Presley. At the Pebbles piano bar, the couple of Trudy Connor and Eddie Gomez would entertain. Into the early seventies, local band Tania would become famous, appearing nightly in full painted faces. The adjacent Hilton hotel offered live music at the Spot Spot as well as lounge acts. Across the road was the non-descript Ban Chuan bar, where many of my long departed friends spent their evenings getting drunk.

The Malaysia Hotel, closer to the Botanic Gardens had its own club called The Pub. At its peak, Heather and the Thunderbirds was its resident band. At the junction of Orchard and Scotts Road stands the Lido cinema. Notable because there was a popular restaurant and night club on the upper floor called the Rose DOr. The local band Flamingos gained their popularity with performances at this club. A weekly night market (Pasar Malam) would line the foot path from the Singapura Hotel to this junction, offering assorted wares, snacks, records, cassettes, toys and everything else that could be sold.

Turning the corner to Scotts Road were still more offerings. The Tropicana building contained a restaurant and a supper club featuring nightly shows, a pop music club The Rasa Sayang that featured renowned bands like Eddie Katindig from the Philippines and even ones from Italy. Adjacent was the Bistro, with a horse shoe shaped bar counter that featured a solo performer in the middle. Permanent fixtures were Filipino singer/guitarist Tony Mihares and local musician Ernesto Valerio. At the International building behind, the Ginnivy coffee house featured country music from performers like Don Nonis.

The British Tanglin Club provided nightly music while the American Club had a quartet on weekends led by Michael Tseng at the piano. The Goodwood Park Hotel at the opposite side would occasionally present special shows. A notable evening was one by Millie Small when she had her hit song My Boy Lollipop as well as performances by world renowned jazz clarinettist Tony Scott and the appearance of legendary trumpeter Louis Armstrong. The long time resident band there was led by Lionel Buenaventura. Further in, the Carriage Bar at the York Hotel was where the later edition of the band The Thunderbirds entertained nightly to loyal local fans. 

 A short walk away, the Hyatt Hotel provided live entertainment and included Romy Katindigs band (Eddies brother) as well as intimate female vocalist and pianist duos at its lounge. Back to Orchard Road, the Princes Hotel Garni had the popular songstress Julie Sudiro with the band led by saxophonist John Lee. It was renamed the Pink Pussy Cat in the 70s and featured Albert Venturas funk band. At the Mandarin Hotel, perhaps most memorable must have been the number of years the talented pianist Jimmy Chan played solo at the hotel lounge entertaining countless guests. The Cockpit hotel, tucked away above Orchard and Clemenceau Avenue featured a quartet led by the pianist Sam Gan and close by was Bill Baileys Coconut Grove. Legend has it that this was the inspiration for the song Bill Bailey Wont You Please Come Home.

In the heart of town, on the rooftop at the Adelphi hotel was a combo band led by husband and wife Winston and Theresa Filmer with the Neptune Theatre and Night Club not too far away. Regally standing along Beach Road, The Raffles Hotel still exudes its presence today. This grand dame was the favourite place for the expatriates in Singapore and the band in attendance was led by the legendary musician Gerry Soliano.

There must have been demand for open air venues as there were a string of places with music and dancing all along the east coast. The rooftop at the Ambassador Hotel, Sea View Hotel where you actually saw the seaside, Ocean Park Hotel, Tanjong Inn, Penang Way. Along the west side of the island, the popular WestPoint complete with the strains of the Hawaiian steel guitar. It certainly captured an islanders mood.

Bars such as Tobys Paradise at Tanjong Pagar catered for a rougher clientele. Many young musicians paid their musical dues there.

An eclectic mix of establishments ranged from a Malay dance venue {Ronggeng) that was behind the Roxy cinema, to a bevy of female Mandarin vocalists at The Singapore Hotel in Geylang. Chinese restaurants such as the Peking and Cathay restaurants with bandleaders Fred Libio and Jose Daroya respectively, would accompany Mandarin singers to entertain lunch and dinner diners. Some, like The Air View and Southern Cabaret in the Chinatown area, offered lunch time music in addition to their nightly operations. The cabarets at the Great, Happy and New Worlds, were dance halls at night where tickets were sold for a dance with the lady hostesses. These had slightly larger bands and were led by Cecil Wilson and Tony Leong.

Late night owls extended their enjoyment heading out to the airport lounge at Paya Lebar, as it closed late at 1or 3am. The band included Erwin Dragon, Nick Singh, Winston Nerva, Freddy Dias and Jerry Teng. Others would head for a late supper at Bugis street, a ramshackle run down area with food and drink stalls. Entertainment was from the transvestites parading and the frantic scurrying of large gutter rats. It was a favourite place for members of the British Forces to end the night. 

For many part time musicians, there was always the opportunity for additional income. It was almost a prerequisite to engage bands for birthday parties, anniversaries and weddings. Function halls at Fraser & Neave and the Police Training School were regularly booked for company and event functions. During the year end festive season, the Victoria Memorial Hall, Singapore Cricket and Recreation Clubs at the Padang hosted special evenings. Similarly, private clubs like the Island Country Club, Singapore Swimming Club had season festivities. The British forces stationed here were another source that required bands during weekends and special occasions. From the Fairey Point for officers and the RAF NCO clubs at Changi to the MacGregor RAF club at Tengah, with Seletar, the British Military Hospital and The Pengaran Barracks in Johore/Malaya as well, there was always a choice for a weekend musician.

The Golden Star Night Club at Dublin Road (Later Shindig), Shamrock, Baron, El Amigo Night Club, The Kelong at the Cathay, Talk of the Town, Neptune Theatre and even The Singapore Lady a pseudo riverboat appeared to match the pace of the changing 70s. Upstart Ginos Au Go-Go pioneered the concept of the discotheque. In the mornings, the Early Bird Show at the Odeon Cinema with Larry Lai and Tan Swee Leong always attracted a large audience eager for weekend entertainment.

OTHER FORMS OF WORK IN THE MUSIC PROFESSION

The general public thinks, musicians earn their living from playing only at live music venues. Music recordings, arrangements, orchestral scores, music copyists, concerts, television, film, video production and teaching all require musical services.

In the 50 and 60s, Singapore was the centre of the Malay film and music industry with activities at Cathay Keris at East Coast Road and Shaw Brothers at Jalan Ampas/Balestier Road. These film productions made stars of P. Ramlee, Saloma and trumpet boy wonder Tony Castillo. 

AND THE MUSIC DIED

Many have wondered today if the musical excitement and activity of the early days could ever be rekindled. Besides the changing times from an era that had only limited choices of entertainment, a number of events caused the downward trend.

A crackdown with raids by the authorities in the 70s on night spots as being havens for youths and use of drugs, a 100% increase in entertainment tax for live entertainment venues, cancellation of many liquor licences, a club dress code of only national dress or coat and tie, a ban on long haired males rang the death knell and closure of many clubs. A policy that viewed the current Western youth values as decadent. As restrictions eased a few years later, the discothèque (disco) and the opening of karaoke in public places offered a lower cost alternative for musical entertainment, thus ending many a musicians livelihood. In the mid 80s with a financial recession, hotels requested that a ruling requiring the equivalent number of local musicians to be hired for every foreign band imported to be waived. This brought in a flood of cheap Filipino bands who were more entertainers than musicians. The one for one policy of importing foreign musicians was intended to allow only entry of high calibre bands in order to encourage the raising of standards as well as protect the local music industry. This ruling was never reinstated.

Malaysia in the 80s implemented a policy that all music including advertising jingles for use in the countrys broadcast and other related outlets had to be produced in Malaysia by Malaysians. This largely affected the advertising and film industry in Singapore with the subsequent loss of the Malay film and music industry to Malaysia.

Todays easily available multimedia choices for entertainment, does not encourage music as a profession. Yet many persevere. Like the cogs of a gear to keep turning, there has to be an industry that demands the services of musicians, bands and performers. Exposure and promotion from television, radio, live events, recordings, the internet and the generation of a regular audience following are all a part of this. Live music continues to thrive in the world, coexisting and embracing technology. In the face of declining sales of recordings, many musicians and performers have found touring and promoting their recordings at concerts a lucrative option. It seems with technological advances, its back to performing live once more. Just like in the old days.

Senior stories Lesley Ong

 

Living without TV

by Lesley Ong

> On 1 Nov 2022 around 7.30pm, I turned on my TV. Two words jumped out from the screen. “NO SIGNAL”.
> I panicked. The Hong Kong series “Dynasty”, which I was following, would be starting soon at 9. It was very exciting and I don’t want to miss it. I straightaway called the telco company.
> After asking me to check the connection, click here, click there, re-booth etc, the signal came back. What a relief!
> This got me thinking, “How did I survive the days when there was no television?”
> You see, TV was only introduced in Singapore on 15 February 1963.
>
> At that time, I was staying at 134-B Dorset Road, a SIT estate located next to Farrer. A small drain separate the estate and the park. The 8 blocks of three storey flats was build by the Lim Yew Hock’s government. Each block had 18 units with 2 units facing each other.
>
> My first childhood friend was my neighbour, a Indian girl called Jamma. I was around 4 years and she was year my senior. As both of us were not of school going age then, we played everyday from morning to night with dolls and masak masak (crockery, forks & spoon made of plastic). Our doors were never closed. We walked in and out of each other house, ate in eat other’s house and that is why up to this day I love curry!
>
> My father was a movie bluff. Almost every weekend, he would pack the whole family in 2 taxis and off to the theatre we go. Cathay, Capitol, Odean, Alhambra, Sun, Sky, Globe, Galaxy, King to name a few. After the movie, If we watched the movie at Cathy, Capitol, Odeon and Alhambra, father would bring us all to the satay club at Beach Road for dinner. We sat on low benches around the stall, earring satay, washed down with freshly grind sugar cane juice admist the smoke and dust as the Tay Koh Yat buses roared by. Tay Koh Yat bus depot was just across the road!!
>
> During that time there was no film classification. So father brought us to see whatever film he loved to see. I still remembered watching all the Dracula (played by Christopher Lee) films. Christopher Lee with his bloodshot eyes and fangs. After that, I was always afraid when night fall!
> Then there were the cowboys and Red Indians films. Being young and innocent, I cheered the cowboys on (usually played by actors such as John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Robert Mitchum) as they killed the Red Indians (Sioux, Cheyenne and Apaches) and burned down the whole settlement!
> However the movies I enjoyed most were musicals, movies with Christmas themes and Cineramas. Cineramas were 3D films and were only shown at the Sky Theatre.
>
> If my father was a movie bluff, my mother was a wayang bluff!
> There was a temple at Truro Rd, near my place. Several times a year, they would celebrate the birthday of the deities with 2 days of wayang. Then there was the 7th moon festival and there would be wayang almost the whole month.
> Mother would make us eat an early dinner as the show starts at 7pm. Then each of us would carry a stool and rush to the wayang site so that we could be nearer the stage. Teochew/Hokkien wayang, it did not matter. Because of the popularity of the cinema show “Tan Sar Gnor New” (the story about a poor scholar who fall in love with a rich maiden), every wayang troupe would put up this performance!
> Frankly I love wayangs not because of the shows but because of the many stalls selling a variety of food and drink and the tikam - tikam stalls.
> The most popular drink stall was the one selling the bird nest drink. The hawker would position his tricycle right in the midst of the crowd watching the show! The so called bird nest was actually strips of agar agar! But it did not matter as the drink was cold and sweet with the fragrant of pandan leaves.
> The Tikam Tikam stalls were game stalls. They had board games similar to roulette. I loved to play the game where I was required to pull a pair of metal rods from a bamboo container. The tip of the rods were paintedd either black or red. If you pulled a pair of the same colour, you won a prize. If you pulled a pair of different colour, you “died”! However the stalls which drew the most crowd were the one selling cockles and siput (a kind of snails where the hawker clipped off the tip of the shell and you dipped the snail in the chilli sauce and suck it out!). These hawkers hawked their food on 2 baskets tied to the end of a pole. Their favourite spot was under the wayang stage. There they put down the 2 baskets and patrons sat around the stalls on small stools enjoying the delicacy, with the footsteps of the performers thumping above them!
>
> Opposite my house was a Teochew family. They were quite poor as the father was a cloth merchant with more than ten mouths to feed. Every morning he would piled bales of cloth on his tricycle and cycle to the market to sell. In the evening he would come home and carried the cloth upstairs. Why do I mentioned this particular neighbour? Because going to wayang was a big occasion for them, like attending a grand dinner! They would not only be heavily make up but dressed up to the Ts with matching costumes jewellery., shoes and handbags!
>
> In the evening, the air in the estate would be filled with children’s laughter, screaming and shouting as we come down to play. We played games like “bola humtan” (a game similar to baseball), chapteh (a rubber disc topped with brightly coloured feathers which one kicks with the heel of one leg), spin tops, hit each other’s marbles out of a circle drawn on the pavement (the person who hit the most marbles out of the circle wins and get to keep the marbles!), paper balloons, five stones, hopscotch, kutik kutik. We learned to ride bicycle on adult bicycles. We flew kites, the poorer boys making their own kites out of newspaper and sapu lidi. These kites had difficulty taking off as they were heavier than the normal kite. After sometime, some of the children would go the drain between our estate and Farrer Park to catch guppies or to the bushes to catch spiders. We carried the spiders around in match boxes, ready to fight anytime! The spiders fed on hibiscus leaves.
>
> Every Sunday, we would follow father to Farrer Park to watch football. There are many football pitches and all the pitches would be occupied. My eldest brother and his friends love football. Father bought them a ball. Soon they were playing against other teams at the pitch! It was then that they decided to form a proper team with their own jersey. They called themselves D’ Starlight. Father was their main sponsor. After the game, father would bring us to the nearby Race Course Road to eat Indian Rojak. There were many hawker stalls selling mainly Muslim food such as mee goreng, nasi goreng, soto ayam, roti prata and soup kambing. Not to be forgotten are the kachang puteh stalls. It was a must to munch on kachang puteh while watching football!
>
> Father was trying to produce shampoo. His shampoo was so thick that when you dip a wire with a loop at its end into the shampoo, you could blow out bubbles. So his shampoo ended up with us, the children in the estate. We would go to Farrer Park each with a bottle of the shampoo and a looped wire before the football games start to blow bubbles! The whole park would be full of rainbow coloured bubbles, floating into the sky. It was a beautiful sight!
>
> Next to Dorset estate was Cumberland Estate. The houses there were cute little cottages, separated by hibiscus hedges. They were occupied mostly by Europeans and some high ranking civil servants. Most of them were Christian and during Christmas, all the houses were beautifully decorated with colourful twinkling lights, wreaths, poinsettias, Santa Claus, reindeers and snowman!
> As children, we loved to go there during this season. We walked along the cobblestone lane, see the family preparing dinner in the cottages and the beautifully decorated Christmas tree inside the house. Most house would have a Christmas tree!
>
> The happiest times for us was Chinese New Year and the Mooncake Festival.
> During Chinese New Year, we drank Red Lion fizzy drinks and played with fire crackers and fireworks, day and night, for fifteen days! The whole estate was very noisy and smoky and the ground covered with red paper!
> Then during the Mooncake Festival, all of us would carry lantern. The lanterns came in many shape and sizes, fish shape, aeroplane, butterfly, starfruit, rabbit, flower basket. The most common ones were the paper lanterns, which opened up like an accordion . The children from poorer families made their own lantern out of newspaper and sapu lidi.But this did not deter their fun! They children would form two lines and one of the older boy would beat a drum as we chanted “Ya!Ya! Tom Tom Chen” over and over again. We would marched to Farrer Park as it was very dark and our lanterns shone very bright,y and beautifully.
> Mother would lay the table with chicken, meat, fruits and flowers to pray to the Moon Goddess or “Gay New Mah”. This practice was stopped only when America landed on the moon!
>
> Looking back, it was an enjoyable childhood “Without TV”!
>
>

Senior stories Lim Chin Siang

 The joy and pain of immortality

by Lim Chin Siang

Eversince the genome was mapped and scientists started splicing and experimenting with genes, the biology of aging has been improving. The latest findings by David Sinclair, Lifespan, revealed that aging can be stopped and even be reversed. Even YouTube has many episodes by many scientists talking about the same process. 

So the dream of living forever is now more concrete. Li Ching Yuen was the longest living person in China. He was born in Beijing in 1677 during the Qing Dynasty. He died at age 256 on 4 May 1933. He claimed that herbs prolonged his life. Li Ching Yuen looked really old in the picture put up by Wikipedia. 

Another person, in this case, an immortal Saint, is Shirdi Sai Baba. He was born around 1838? and his death was October 15, 1918. So we think he is dead. But Sri M in his book, The Quest Continues, relays the story where his guru takes him to see the grave of Shirdi Sai Baba. Both of them run into the grave to meet Shirdi Sai Baba sleeping on his string in mid air. Sai Baba even gives Sri M some money to do a task for him. Many saints are immortal and if they do not wish to reveal themselves, we will never know that they are immortals. 

Actually we are all immortals, just that we are not aware of it. Alan's Factory Outlet published a list of the lives of animals. The immortal jellyfish lives forever. The black coral lives 4, 265 years. The Giant sponges, 2300 years. The Greenland Shark can survive between 272 and 512 years. The giant Aldabra Tortoise lives 255 years. In one spiritual book, it is stated that man is supposed to look after all these animals. How can we look after these animals if we die like flies while these animals continue their existence happily? 

Our awareness of external things has increased. Unidentified flying objects, (UFOs) have been visiting us for centuries. We hardly hear about them until recently. Some come from our own planet and solar system, while many others are from outside our solar system. Our first atomic bomb attracted them like flies Ever since then the number of UFOs flying into our space has been increasing. 

Many atomic wars, committed by other civilizations in the past, have destroyed lives and planets. Billions of lives are affected on many different levels. During the Cold War between the US and Russia, the UFOs have helped to neutralise and deactivate the accidental firing of intercontinental missiles. The UFOs are trying their best to prevent the same mistake of earthlings destroying ourselves through the use of atomic weapons - we are supposed to use atomic energy to conquer space, not to kill ourselves.

The newspapers call those riding in the UFOs aliens. In a way we can call them the immortals. They have a lifespan of anywhere from 1000 to 10,000 years. They have technologies which allow us to look back into history 100,000 years ago. 

Let us leave the debate on the possibility of immortality to future generations, otherwise they might have nothing to talk about. Let us keep an open mind on such matters. If we behave like one of my bosses, who exclaim that the census is wrong when this subject is broached, then we end up like the proverbial ostrich stuck in sand. Here we talk about the joy and pain of immortality.  

Living to be 500

500 years is a convenient age. Our present human body can easily survive 500 years. Many Tibetan monks and old Taoist masters live up to such ages quietly without us knowing it. 

Appearance 

Looking at the picture of Li Ching Yuen published in Wikipedia, most women may not want to live that long. What if we can stagnate our outward appearance to maintain the same look at age 30 for the rest of the next 470 years? Luckily we can. David Sinclair can help us by altering our epigenetics, or we can take some proper herbs or do some special exercises or eat the right food.  

The Taoist masters are the most advanced when immortality is concerned. The emperors of China use their services otherwise no emperor could last more than two years making love every day. Emperors have specific exercises to perform to prolong their lives. Unfortunately, most of then get lazy; they end dying pretty soon. Seeking a true Taoist master is very difficult. An easy way is to use yoga to prolong life.  

Kayakalpa yoga may be more accessible. Kayakalpa yoga is an ancient technique of the Siddhas (saints) of South India for the enhancement of life energy. In Sanskrit, the term "kaya" means body and "kalpa" means immortal. The science of kayakalpa shows how the human body can be immortalised. Anyone who wishes to practice kayakalpa has to understand the 5 aspects of the human system - the physical body, the mind, the biomagnetism, the life force and the sexual vital fluid. Those who are keen please do your research, and practise. 

Friends

All human beings evolve at different rates. Like the normal distribution curve, some live longer lives than others. An immortal living among normal people would have to renew his group of friends every 80 to 100 years. Every person who dies on Earth is sent to the astral world. It can be sad to send every of your friends to the astral world, leaving you alone. This need not be the case if you bother to learn to do conscious astral traveling. 

A person who learns to do conscious astral travelling is able to leave his physical body to travel to the astral world. In the astral world he can call on his friends and relatives on the other side. Most the aborigines are able to do conscious astral travelling. The astral travelling is the same, but the concept and names may be different. Carlos Castaneda wrote about this in many of his books. If you happen to know any male Papa New Guinean as a very close friend then you may ask him how to get off the physical body consciously. Your friend may teach you. Many near death experiences shared on YouTube have shown that the barrier to conscious astral traveling has been greatly reduced. In time to come it is very likely everybody will be able to do that. 

All of us do astral travelling every night. Just that, not being trained, all of us are not able to remember. If we do manage to recall some aspects of it, our mind will transform them into dreams. Not to worry, as we live long enough and slowly become old souls, our attachment to our physical bodies is lessened, then conscious astral travelling becomes easier. 

Eating and drinking 

The physical body that we have is one of the lowest grade available in this universe. This body needs to eat, to be entertained, to pass urine and motion, cleaning and rest. Really troublesome. Living 500 years means repeating all these actions. After a while, it can be tiring and boring. 

The Breatharians believe that human beings can survive on the universe's energy instead of physical food. This book, Living on Light by Ellen jasmuheen Greve, describes the process. His idea is correct but he may not possess the total procedure. It is possible to live on light and air by practising a certain closely- guarded technique. This technique is closely guarded to prevent the total collapse of the world economy. One person known to have master this technique is Teresa Nuemann of Germany. 

Charles Mortimer Carty, in his book: Who is Teresa Neumann, wrote about this German mystic who did not sleep and lived without food or liquid except for daily Eucharist from 1926 to 1962. It is said that she practised a mantra and a set of complicated breathing exercises. 

There is nothing mysterious about surviving on sunlight alone. In the far future, our scientists will discover how we can survive on sunlight. Presently, we eat animals, grains and plants. The animals survive by eating the grains and plants. The plants use chlorophyll in their leaves to generate and grow. The secret lies in the chlorophyll. Once we decipher how chlorophyll traps sunlight and produces food, we can do the same directly without the intermediaries. 

Boredom 

One of the modern causes of death is boredom. Not knowing that the internal worlds inside us are many times larger and more fulfilling than our outer world, our youths are seeking more outwardly thrills and excitement to help them banish boredom.  

In the new Age, there will be more wonderful things to see, learn and experience that many will wish that a day is 48 hours.  

Regeneration

Leading such a long life, say 200 years or more, our skin and muscles may wither and look highly wrinkled and ugly to look at. Not so if we could regenerate new and vibrant parts to replace old parts of our body.  

One of the early pioneers was the late Dr Robert O. Becker. He died on May 14, 2008. He was a US Orthopaedic surgeon and researcher in electrophysiology/electromedicine. In his book, Body Electric(1985), he describes the electric nature of the human body and how salamander is able to regenerate its limbs. The electric potential along the limb of an unconscious salamander is charted to show that consciousness returns when the electric potential appears. Once humans are able to chart the normal electric potential and magnetic fields of the whole human body, enhancement and transcending the normal powers of the human body will be within reach. 

A slightly more recent book by Adam Piore, The Body builders(2017), writes about the bionic body and the immense untapped powers of the human body. A hybrid body, a physical body enhanced by bionic parts, is highly likely. Such an enhanced body would be super powerful. Run like a jaguar, punch like a sledgehammer, all these become possible. With unlimited communications and artificial intelligence added, a few of these enhanced bodies can commit crimes undetectable or uncatchable. Law enforcement should wake up. 

Careers and examinations 

Suppose Sam has a lifespan of 300 years. The first 60 years he is a lawyer. The next 60 years, he trains to be a doctor. The next 60 as a bioengineer, etc. Provided he stays young and able, he could build up 6 to 9 careers within that 300 years. How does society deal with such a person? How does the bank deal with him . Everything needs to be overhauled.

The injured alien

As the surgeon, who operated to save the leg of the alien, says goodbye to the recovering alien, he receives a strong telepathic message. The alien mentally pulls the surgeon to look into his eyes and transmits a burst of knowledge into the brain of the surgeon. Essentially, the message transmitted paraphrased here, is : 

The alien feels very sorry for for us, ignorant human beings. 

All humans have the same potential and abilities as the alien. Humans have the same abilities to repair their own injured or diseased bodies but human beings do not know how to do it. 

Human beings do not know they are spiritual beings living in a temporary shell, and 

Human beings are totally disconnected from their spiritual self. 

The alien who shares this message is captured when his flying saucer crashes in Varginha, Brazil in January 1996. Readers may want to read about it in the book : Ufo crash in Brazil by Dr Roger Leir. The relevant chapter is chapter 6, The Medical Testimony, pg 65. 

Nonexistence of security in this world

Here I do not meant IT security, which is a mundane issue, but the more heinous lack of security of human rights. Let me explain. Whether a person works for himself or for an organisation, this lack of security is the same. An invention of a researcher working for an organisation is said to belong to the organisation. I agree with that if the invention is used for good purposes. But not if the invention is used for evil purposes. 

Let’s say a researcher invents the thought machine (TM). After thinking about using it for good purposes versus bad purposes, he decides to destroy all trace of his invention. His employer does not agree, kidnaps his family and forces him to design the first prototype. He has to do the prototype, he has all the know-how and knowledge in his head. The employer then uses the prototpye to read the passwords and access codes of thousands of people without them knowing it. Next he siphons all the bank accounts. Finally, after forcing the poor researcher to build another three prototypes, he assassinates this researcher and his family in a freak accident. The researcher does not have the security to keep his invention from being exploited. That iack of security is what I am talking about. 

With life span stretching up to 500 years, human kind has plenty of time to look into many things. A smart person would make millions first and then retire early to pursue his many interests. Many discoveries will be made and many inventions will be exploited for evil or financial purposes. The TM may at first be used to read human thoughts, later, more advanced experimentations would reveal the way to control human behaviour and actions. Unless we have some sort of World Police Team, powerful and advanced, evil will triumph. Immortality may then mean more suffering for planet Earth. 

Joy of Immortality

Good things do happen as we move towards the Golden Age, about 8000 years from now. Let’s take a peek.. 

Presently, we use gas and liquid anesthetic to shutdown our nerves. In the advanced age, only a small electrical signal with the right modulation clip to our toes or fingers will do the job. The electrical signal lifts off the nerve waves from the nerve fibre to prevent the nerve signal from propagating. 

This concept is similar to the Taser, a device used by today’s police officer to paralyse a victim. 

We waste lots of water bathing every day. Now we dry-clean our clothes, in the future, we dry-clean our bodies too. Walk into a bath chamber, take off our clothes. Electrical waves brush off our bodies, removing all the dead cells and moisture. We feel super clean. Just outside the chamber, the same clothes we took off are also ready for us to reuse. 

Today, doctors treat our symptoms and hope for the best. Tomorrow, machines read our acupuncture points, electrical potentials, organs’ resonance frequencies and show us what we must do to treat ourselves. The same machine may also generate the appropriate electrical waves to make us feel well again. In time to come, only nurses, surgeons and bioengineers are needed in the medical field. No doctors. 

As we master gravity and gravity fields, levitation becomes an everyday affair. Every home has its own flying mobile. Humongous cities are built which float on space or underwater. 

The day will come when we master suspended animation and soul migration. For long intergalactic missions, we put on a body which does not need maintenance. No eating, bathing or sleeping are necessary. After we complete our mission, we return to base and put on our original bodies. 

So much more is possible once the new physics is learned. 

Life is really worth living. 

Goodbye. 

Senior Stories Henry Chia

 GENESIS

by Henry Chis

Everything starts from something! A Christian hymn “Pass It On” has this introductory line: “It only takes a spark to get a fire going”.

Recently my longstanding friend, Emeritus Professor, Dr Edwin Thumboo told me, the Economic Journal published by the Economics Department of the National University of Singapore is enjoying great success, and people are enquiring on how it got started.

In my second year, 1955/56, as the honorary secretary of the student Economic Society I published the first Economic Journal. Immediately after its the successful publication, Professor T H Silcock, Head of the University of Malaya Economic Department called me over to his office. He told me that the department was interested in taking over the publication and wondered whether I had any objection to the transfer. Unhesitatingly, I gladly agreed because I knew I could not give any more of my time as I had to prepare for my impending examinations.

The idea of the publication struck me during lecture: students listened and jotted down notes; but the thought came to me that lectures basically ed up our minds, widen our knowledge. I approached all the teachers in the department and put forward to them my belief that they could help students widen their perspective, and enjoy the study of economics if they would expand their lectures with additional information through a publication that I proposed to produce. They accepted my idea and agreed to contribute articles to support the production of such a journal. Their unreserved responses showed their collective objective of educating high quality students. 

The publication of the journal required an editor who would handle the articles submitted by the teachers, to have them arranged in a systematic order. I assigned an honours year economic student to carry out this responsibility. He agreed to commit himself to the work without reservation, even though the work would greatly impinge on his study time. Unfortunately, I cannot recall his name. It’s difficult to recall anything that took place so far back in time. It was about 56 years ago when I started this project. I am now 89 years of age; past events have got somewhat foggy. I don’t have a copy of the journal where you can find his name: I think there’s a ‘K’ in it. But I can recall our very good relationship. He worked according to my intended plan and schedule of production, and willingly accompanied me on several occasions to the printer’s office, by public transport, to discuss with the printer the format of the journal. He carried out all the necessary editorial functions and he finalised the presentation with the printer. A quiet and trustworthy man.

After arranging the publication part of the journal, I then gave my attention to other aspects of book production: importantly, payment for the printing. I dismissed the idea of getting a financial sponsor as there was no precedent. Who would agree to support it financially? I decided to take this problem as a personal challenge: be self-reliant. I was confident as I could fall back on my past experience of getting financial backing for the production of my school magazines (Victoria School) before and after I became the business manager of the first issue of the Combined School Magazine.        

I renewed contact with the company which printed the school magazines. As I had no financial resources, no money to back up the production, I made a deal with the printer. I explained the objective of the publication and promised him that I would do my very best to get enough advertisements to cover the printing cost. He trusted my word that I would honestly work to meet the production cost and agreed to print a specified number of copies (I cannot remember how many). A true gentleman, he did not talk about profits.

Having got the printer’s agreement to do the job, I then went about to tackle the next part of the production: find enough money from advertisements to pay the printer. The companies I had in mind were spread out throughout the city. I could get to them by the only means of transport available to me: using my bicycle. Fortunately, the bosses of these companies were good listeners with a good heart. They listened to the objective of the publication, they were sympathetic and they applauded the idea that students would benefit from their study of economics, and that the teachers had given their wholehearted support. 

The publication of this student Economic Journal was successfully completed in about three months. I requested a committee member of the student Economic Society, A Mahadeva, a schoolmate to complete the publication’s financial transactions, and take care of its distribution. He said to me, “You published the Journal, your name is not it!” My reply was that it didn’t matter. At his insistence I wrote a notice in my capacity as Secretary of the student Economic Society encouraging students to join the Society, and had the notice stuck at the inside of the back cover of the book. 

It was just prior to a lecture when Professor Silcock called me to speak with me about the Economic Department’s desire to take over the Journal. After the meeting I returned to the lecture room and I informed the class about my agreement to the transfer.

I had no extraordinary feeling of exhilaration about the publication and completion of the journal. What mattered most to me was that the objective of the publication received the warm response of everyone who supported it: the teachers in the Economic Department, printer, bosses of companies, and fellow students. And for me, I learned a critical life lesson: the importance of getting the trust of people I need for my endeavours.

Henry Chia Soo Boon PPA (G); BA Hons (1958) University of

 Singapore

Senior Stories Liu Sung Tao

 How to make our country continue prosper and develop

Liu Sung Tao

How to make our country continue to prosper and develop.

 Service industry is the foundation of governance

A person and a country also have their strengths and weaknesses. Smart people know how to use their strengths to make up for their weaknesses, highlight their strengths, and increase visibility.

 National leaders can also avoid the slightest and create outstanding selling points to make people popular.

This is the basic way of life and governance.

Singapore has only been established for 55 years. All modern buildings have emerged from nothing. In just a few decades, the dilapidated Singapore has been built into a world-class metropolis. It enjoys many world-famous selling points, such as the "beautiful garden city", "the famous Singapore airline," "excellent airport " "clean government" the richest country per capita, in Asia etc., all achievementsmake Singaporeans feel Proud of .

 Change with the times

However, The Times are changing. Any country, no matter how great its achievements, must change its governing policy in line with the changing environment, and Singapore is no exception.

The outbreak of coVID-19 has hit Singapore especially hard. The government spent more than $50 billion in reserves to keep people safe. As hundreds of thousands of workers faced the impact of the severe outbreak, the government had to isolate most of the communities that were not affected, with severe economic losses.

Had it not been for the guest worker covid-19, Singapore might have been one of the least affected countries in the world. Now it's the other way around! Lose your money and reputation! What should be done to remedy it? Perhaps the authorities should consider it.

Make full use of manpower

 

The total population of Singapore is more than 5.6 million, of which only about 3.5 million are citizens, and the rest are foreign workers and laborers. 4 out of every 10 people are not Singapore citizens. This is a normal country with a very abnormal population structure that needs to be improved.

 The solution is: Singapore must reduce the number of industries that need to hire a large number of foreign workers and labor.

 Maids, accompany mothers, and foreign students are allowed to work part-time in the service industry.

 Significantly increase the income of local laborers.

 At the same time, the conditions for economic immigration are relaxed and the residence period for becoming a citizen is shortened. And the development of smoke-free industry, pay attention to tourism, education, health industry and other service industries.

Increase citizen growth rate

Singapore's priorities should be: how to increase the growth rate of its citizens and help them out of poverty, focusing on their livelihood knowledge and ability, rather than giving them money and food in the form of relief.

Within a few years, there will be no more poor people in need of relief in Singapore, and everyone will want to get married and have children without any worries in life. That's one way to increase the rate of population growth in Singapore.

This should be the highest priority of the Singapore government.

A sufficient number of nationals is needed to reduce the number of foreigners employed.

Singapore's priorities should be: how to increase the growth rate of its citizens and help them out of poverty, focusing on their livelihood knowledge and ability, rather than giving them money and food in the form of relief.

Within a few years, there will be no more poor people in need of relief in Singapore, and everyone will want to get married and have children without any worries in life. That's one way to increase the rate of population growth in Singapore.

This should be the highest priority of the Singapore government.

A sufficient number of nationals is needed to reduce the number of foreigners employed.

Open financial policy.

Singapore would do well to adopt a Swiss financial system that would allow large and small banks, including financial firms, to do so.

So that the general public can generally benefit, not only can we put an end to the usury market. It can also solve the hardships of people who don't have enough money.

Therefore, unlimited approval is granted for the establishment of banking and financial companies. Singapore will be same as Switzerland also be able to provide the world with confidential account services.

In terms of security, the U.S. banking system can also be adopted: interest on bank deposits with security guarantees is low. Small bank deposits without security guarantees have relatively high interest rates, making them more opportunities for the public to choose.

Using Swiss banking methods, you can absorb a lot of foreign deposits, in order to make a big investment in the financial sector, with money to make money, you can make Singapore live a life without the need for a large number of guest workers

 Development of "Medical Center"

 To develop Singapore into the most developed medical country in the ASEAN region, to set up more medical schools, and more advanced specialized hospitals and medical clinics. In addition to providing affordable medical services for the Chinese people, it also allows those who aspire to become doctors and nurses Prioritize admission opportunities. Similarly, people from ASEAN countries can come to enjoy world-class medical services and school enrollment opportunities.

 Many rich people in Southeast Asia, including Singaporeans, often send their seriously ill relatives to the United States for medical treatment. If Singapore can provide the same level of medical services, they will choose to go to Singapore for treatment. In fact, this situation already exists, but it can still greatly expand the market and make it more universal.

 Can develop Singapore into the best medical center in ASEAN. Will make our country fame and fortune.

Set up an education center

 At present, the tuition fees of higher education institutions in European and American countries are very expensive, but they can still attract a large number of students from Asia. 

 We should win over this lucrative business, 

To Introduce more internationally renowned universities, especially the subjects of business administration, come to set up branch schools. There will be a big market and profitable because our costs are certainly

  cheaper than Europe and America.

 The establishment of more famous universities for business administration can not only cultivate a large number of business talents for our country, but also allow ASEAN students to study in Singapore nearby. They save money, we make money, why not do it!

 In the future, if most of the business executives and big bosses in ASEAN countries are Singapore business graduates, they may drink water to think about their source and let Singapore share their achievements. It may be both human and financial!

 Therefore, it is a feasible project to establish a university city and develop Singapore into a higher education center in ASEAN to replace factories lacking labor.

Modern red light district

We can develop Singapore's Geylang district into a modern red-light district like King's Cross in Sydney or Soho in London. In order to attract another kind of tourists.

The UK, Australia can do why not Singapore? To become a world-famous tourist center, we need more than garden cities.

Transform all the rowhouses in The Geylang area into Singapore's colorful tourism hub.

It provides the same content as KingCross Soho.

So that all visitors to Singapore will not miss this onew attraction.

Change the use of Geylang District

This will enable the area not only to make more money from tourists, but also to bring more economic benefits to the owners.

Singapore Everbright City-Sentosa

 Develop Sentosa into a city that never sleeps, open 24 hours a day, and provide visitors with programs that are not allowed in Singapore, such as nude beaches, topless performances, etc. The nightlife can be compared with Thailand. Open multiple tax-free rooms

 The store sells diversified products at low prices, similar to the Yiwu (World Suppermarket) Commercial Center in China. Become a shopping paradise for tourists.

 The advantage of Everbright City is that it can buy time for short-term transit travelers to visit Singapore at night, and it can also make tourists choose to visit the cool Sentosa at night to avoid the hot day.

 Develop Sentosa into a world-famous city that never sleeps and a shopping paradise. Attract tourists to Singapore for their love of Sentosa.

Singapore also has pedestrian streets.

Almost every major city in the world has pedestrian streets to attract tourists, how can Singapore not!

It may also be considered to open Up The Orchard Road as a pedestrian street: a more prominent tourist attraction.

All stores that require or sponsor must be decorated with bright event neon lights, which are as beautiful as Tokyo Ginza in Japan. Make it a better place for visitors to have a more lively nightlife on cool nights.

All stores can therefore extend business hours, easily can increase economic returns, why not.

Service industry is the foundation of Singapore

 To achieve the above goals, develop Singapore into a more open "financial center" and a "tourism center" that can attract more tourists and become the most famous "education center" and the best "medical center" in ASEAN. Perhaps the government should Implement some relatively open policies: for example: allow investors in service industries to enjoy tax exemption as well as pioneer industries. Allow foreign professionals to obtain the more convenient employment pass. Allow all international students to do part-time work. At the same time, foreign personnel who can promote tourism can participate in the development of tourism services.

 When Singapore developed into an internationally renowned "financial center" "Education center", "Medical center" and "Tourism center", Singaporeans in the future will have the opportunity to become professional talents in these Field and they can work withq these industries at home and abroad. Become a special profession for most Singaporeans. Everyone has a skill, and maybe Singapore no longer has people waiting for relief!

 Young people don’t have to pay expensive cost to study abroad. After graduating, most of the students will get married in Singapore and take root, so we don’t have to face the problem of people going to live abroad.

 Reduce industries requiring guest workers and vigorously develop service industries. This is

 a suggestion worthy of consideration by relevant departments.

Senior Stories Frederick Lim

  RETIREE’S REALITY CHECK

by Frederick Lim

I retired at 65. That was after a long working life of ups and downs in business and in stockbroking and then a more stable career of twenty years of journalism. As I approached retirement a friend asked me what I’ll do once I retire. 

“Once I retire, I’ll do the things I really enjoy,” I told him. “And I’ll do things I never found the time to do.”

 And those were the thoughts I had been carrying around in my mind as retirement came ever closer upon the horizon. In fact I had a mental list all drawn up of all the things I hoped and wanted to do. 

Now, on my 3-year anniversary of my retirement, as I look back at the hopes, the expectations, the challenges, the reality checks, the dilemmas, and my life as a retired person I can say that retirement certainly didn’t turn out quite the way I thought it would. 

In the weeks and days leading up to my last day at CNA I would sit back in my office chair and think to myself: how good it would be to be finally free of routines, schedules, deadlines, meetings, budgets, year-end appraisals and all the many stressful and strenuous aspects of work life. And along with that, how good it would be to be able to wake up late any day of the week and be free to do whatever I felt like doing for the day. Or to stay up late and watch football and not have to worry about having to work the next day. 

And going beyond that, how good it would be to be able to have the time to travel to places I’ve never been to; to take cruises to nowhere or somewhere; to read and read and read; to take walk after walk or car or bus rides all day long; to catch concerts; to go to the movies; to visit museums—the list is endless when you have an abundance of time to do things at your leisure. On top of all that, I also planned to revive my long-neglected hobbies: to write a novel, to set up a travel blog, to improve my photography and video-making skills and to do some art. And I wanted to do some volunteering work as well.

 When my last few days in office came and as I went around to bade farewell to my colleagues some asked me if I would miss the working life. My answer was a firm “No”. A few said that an active and healthy person like me would probably get bored after a while and like many people they know would return to jobs or do some part-time or freelance work. 

I told them: “No way”. 

One answered me with this: “Don’t say so fast. Things can always change. People can always change. Nowadays, retirement is no longer an end-of-work thing. Many retirees do part-time or freelance or temporary work.” 

Another chipped in: “Yah, after a few honeymoon years of retirement you may get tired of too much travelling and then you may start to get bored and then restless. Or it could be money. Many people miscalculate how much they need to lead a good retirement life.”

I took my colleagues’ comments to heart but didn’t think they applied to me. I had done proper retirement planning after all. As senior editor of Money Mind in my last position with CNA I knew quite a bit about retirement planning. It was a subject we featured regularly on the weekly personal finance TV program. I knew from interacting with financial planning experts that there are four big questions you have to ask yourself when you go into retirement: Are you in good health? Do you have financial security? Will your family ties and social networks provide you with a good source of strength and support when you need it? Will you be able to find meaning and a sense of purpose in the things you do during retirement? I felt that I was good on all four counts.

I was also aware that some people lose their sense of identity once they retire. It’s because they put so much of their life into their work that their professional identity becomes their personal identity. Who they are become defined by the work that they do. And so much of their life happens at work that they feel lost when they retire because it would mean a big change for them. But I knew it wouldn’t be a problem for me. I had always been able to keep the two identities separate.

So, as I was about to leave office for the last time on my last day I sent out a mass email to all my colleagues. I also posted my farewell note on my Facebook page:

TIME TO MOVE ON

It’s time to move on - and time to say goodbye to CNA, MediaCorp, where I have been a journalist for 20 odd years.

Friends and colleagues ask me why I am leaving. I tell them I am retiring. They ask: why retire when you are still fit and healthy? I tell them it’s precisely because I am still fit and healthy that I am retiring. You want to be still fit and healthy to be able to enjoy retired life before your body (and your mind) starts to fail you. I know of many people who suffer more than enjoy when they go on holiday trips because of health issues.

And how I came to this decision has to do with 2 things: time and money. When you are young you think that money is what is most precious, but when you reach my age you know that what is most precious is time. Time with loved ones.

And so I asked myself: Will you run out of money before you run out of time? Or will you run out of time before you run out of money? You can count how much money you have and how long it will last – and you can do something if it turns out that your money will run out. But you can’t count how many years you have and how long you will last on Earth – and you can do nothing about it when your time runs out on you. And if you have lost money you can spend some time to make it back. But if you have lost time, no matter how much money you have to spend, you can’t buy back time. So the reasoning is simple—I give the biggest weight to the greatest unknown. YOLO!

And so I retired in February, 2020.

On the day after my retirement my wife and I went to an expensive Thai restaurant to celebrate. It was also my birthday. We discussed where to travel to and then went on to book an 18-day holiday package to Northwest America for April with a cruise to Alaska and a bus tour around the Canadian Rockies. We discussed going to Korea and Japan after the Alaska trip as well. And I also made an open booking for an 8-night stay in Angsana Lang Co Spa Resort in Central Vietnam. 

Then came a reality check. To have retired and be free to go anywhere in the world doesn’t mean a thing when a global health crisis is underway. You may have all your plans carefully worked out but life can always spring you a surprise, as it often does. And what you want is never necessarily what you get. The COVID-19 outbreak which started in Wuhan, China was spreading all over the world. Country after country was affected. International border restrictions and closures came thick and fast as fear grew over the exponential spikes in infections and deaths. Our travel plans had to be cancelled or put on hold. 

Not being able to travel overseas was a big blow to us. The main reason for me to retire two years earlier than the official retirement age of 67 was to travel. Age was catching up with us and we didn’t want to leave it too late to travel to the faraway places we wanted to visit. Health deteriorates with age. Travelling on 20-hour flights can be stressful. Waking up early to go for sightseeing and coming back late can strain the body. Climbing steep stairs and walking long distances can be a struggle if you have to do it repeatedly over many days. Footing, balance, sight, hearing and stamina are also not so good as you age and just one slip up can result in a bad accident. Long coach rides can strain the back and legs. The weather can make you sick. Absent-mindedness can make you drop, leave behind or lose things—like your passport or wallet—and that can really spoil a holiday. Tiredness is also a factor – we didn’t want to go on a vacation and be too tired to enjoy. Young people can rough it out on holiday and still enjoy but when you are over 65 that’s another matter. 

But as the COVID-19 outbreak turned into a global pandemic we knew that it would take quite a long time before we could travel. 

Then, on April 7, about a month or so after I retired, the government imposed the circuit breaker with strict measures such as stay-at-home orders, remote work, restrictions on social gatherings, takeaway or delivery of food only and compulsory mask wearing. The measures were further tightened on April 21. For my wife and I it meant staying within the confines of home most of the time. Besides the restrictions we were also afraid to go out and catch the virus. It was a blessing in a way however. Having to stay at home I found the time to write my first novel. And it was about the COVID-19 crisis. I decided that since I was constantly keeping up with all the information coming in about the pandemic I might as well write about it. The novel is titled The Pandemic Files. In the novel a Singapore journalist is in Wuhan to do on-the-ground stories of the pandemic. He comes upon hope and heartbreak, fear and fearlessness, selfishness and self-sacrifice and the best and worst of humanity in a crisis. Then, mysterious circumstances behind a man’s death leaves him with a puzzle to solve even as he heads back to Singapore. And he has to solve it quickly to save a life. The book was published about a year later.

 As the year wore on and the movement, group size and other restrictions were loosened, and then further loosened again as the COVID situation in Singapore improved, I began to have a better retired life. We didn’t want to take too much risks however and didn’t want to go out too much. When we went out it was to lower-risk and less-crowded places like outdoor parks. We visited museums and went to movies, malls and supermarkets only at odd times when there would be no crowds. I intensified my daily exercise regime which included swimming, jogging and working out in the gym. Then, as vaccines began arriving the following year, my retired life got even better. While we still couldn’t travel overseas we went on staycations in Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World and visited places like Jewel, Botanic Gardens and Gardens by the Bay. I also went for courses on photography, video-editing and graphic art.

Another thing I did during that period of time was to re-connect with my former Raffles Institution classmates and schoolmates. We met for coffee and lunches and went on hikes in the Rail Corridor, Southern Ridges and other nature trails. It proved to be a really good move. Whenever we met it was always fun. There would be countless stories to tell with a myriad of different lifetime experiences spread over professions, continents and decades to relate. And although many of us hadn’t met for decades the camaraderie was like that of our schooldays.

 Then came 2022. In the first half of the year we still couldn’t travel overseas or were too afraid to travel even though some countries reopened their borders. I had time to write my second novel, The Sungei Road Gang, a crime thriller, which was later published. But I had a reality check and was in a bit of a dilemma during that period of time. Inflation, one of the biggest threats to a retiree’s income, was soaring and making everything expensive. It affected us of course but not too badly. I don’t have a big-spender mentality. I don’t buy branded and expensive stuff. I never bother about “saving face” or worry myself over “losing face” and I never had a compulsion to have to “keep up with the Joneses”. So, spending a bit more wasn’t too worrisome. I have passive income from CPF Life and from some investments. I have six months of emergency funds. I have bank savings which are earmarked for travelling. I have simple needs and live within my modest means. I do pamper myself once in a while and spend more to have a good time, but I don’t overdo it. 

But what concerned me the most was the Certificate of Entitlement prices. My car was nearing 10 years old and to renew the COE to keep it I would have to fork out $100,000 or more. I started wondering if I should go find some part-time or freelance work. My novels were not bringing in much as I had yet to make a name for myself in the minds of reading public. I thought about it but didn’t want to do jobs that would involve too much brainwork which also usually come with much stress and a heavy load of responsibility. I thought about doing jobs that would be mechanical and routine although they may not pay much. Or to drive for Grab. I managed to do some small freelance gigs which paid nothing more than pocket money. I thought about selling off some of my stocks and bonds but that would mean a loss in passive income. In the end I asked myself: Is this what you want? Do you want to do a job you don’t really want to do so as to keep the car? I finally decided that it would be better to just do without the car. 

 In the second half of 2022 life had returned to near-normalcy. COVID restrictions were mostly lifted and travel to many countries was now possible. But would it be safe to travel and if so which countries would be the safest to go to? — that was a dilemma. In the end we made two trips to Malaysia—one by land and another by sea on a cruise ship. We visited Ipoh, Taiping, Kuala Lumpur and Penang. We also spent nine days and eight nights at Angsana Lang Co resort in Central Vietnam and on day trips visited Hue, Danang, My Son and Hoi Ann. We also booked a tour package to Kyushu in Japan for February 2023. But we were not so confident about how safe it would be to go to Europe and America and decided to leave it till later. 

 So here I am, three years into retirement, and feeling that it has only just started. My retirement lifestyle in the last three years had been severely disrupted by COVID-19 but they were not lost years. I managed to do quite a lot of things that I enjoyed doing during retirement. I also did things I never found time to do - like writing and publishing novels. I’m not sure if I can be considered to be in the honeymoon years of retirement, or even if there is such a thing as a honeymoon during retirement, but I’m looking forward to the future with hope. Cautious hope, that is. The reality is that the world has become a much more uncertain place than three years ago. The political, economic and social and ecological environment around the world has changed. A bitter and bloody war is ongoing in Europe, US-China tensions are rising, globalisation is in reverse, inflation is rising, global debt is heading for crisis levels, and equity, bond, forex and commodity markets are volatile. And people around the world and even in the same country are becoming increasingly divided and are taking hard-line or extremist positions on political and social issues. Climate change is also making the weather unpredictable.  

 Still, I have always been a positive-minded person throughout my life. And whatever the future brings I’ll live life as it comes. And try to live the rest of my life, my retirement years, to the fullest.

Senior Stories Philip Tay

 Title: "A Second Wind of Inspiration"

by Philip Tay

Once upon a time in the quiet town of Ponggol East, there lived a retired senior named Philip. At the age of 72, Philip had seen it all and done it all. He had worked tirelessly for decades as an accountant, diligently crunching numbers for various corporations. Retirement, for him, was meant to be a time of relaxation, but Philip was about to embark on a new adventure that would inspire not only him but the entire community.

Philip had always been a man of routine. Every morning, he would wake up at 6 a.m., brew a pot of strong coffee, and sit on his porch overlooking the picturesque meadow behind his house. He loved to watch the sunrise, its golden rays painting the sky in hues of orange and pink. It was during these moments of reflection that he realized something was missing from his life.

One chilly morning, as Philip sipped his coffee, he noticed a group of children playing in the meadow. They were laughing, running, and enjoying the simple pleasures of life. Philip couldn't help but smile, remembering the days when he was a young boy with boundless energy and dreams.

As the days passed, Philip found himself drawn to the meadow more and more. He would sit on his porch and watch the children, a sense of longing growing within him. One day, he decided to take a stroll to the meadow and chat with the kids. They welcomed him with open arms, and soon, Philip became a regular visitor.

He began to share stories of his life with the children, tales of his adventures, and the importance of hard work and perseverance. The children, in turn, shared their dreams and aspirations with him. Philip was amazed by their enthusiasm and zest for life.

One sunny afternoon, Philip proposed an idea to the children. He suggested they start a community garden in the meadow, where they could grow fruits and vegetables together. The kids were excited by the idea, and they eagerly agreed to get started. Philip, though not a gardener by any means, was determined to learn alongside them.

With shovels, seeds, and a lot of enthusiasm, Philip and the children began to transform a corner of the meadow into a beautiful garden. They worked tirelessly, tilling the soil, planting seeds, and tending to the plants. Philip's hands, which had spent most of his life holding a pen, were now covered in earth, and he loved every minute of it.

Word of the community garden spread throughout Ponggol East, and soon, other retirees and townspeople joined in to help. Philip's once-quiet retirement was now a bustling hub of activity. He had found a new sense of purpose, and the garden became a symbol of unity and hope in the town.

As the seasons changed, so did the garden. It flourished with colorful flowers and bountiful harvests of fruits and vegetables. The children learned valuable lessons about patience, hard work, and the cycle of life. Philip in his newfound role as a mentor, was filled with pride as he watched them grow and thrive.

But life has a way of throwing unexpected challenges our way. One day, Philipwoke up with a sharp pain in his chest. Concerned, he went to see the doctor and was diagnosed with a heart condition. He was told to take it easy and avoid strenuous activities. Philip was devastated, fearing that he would have to step away from the garden and his cherished moments with the children.

However, Philip was not one to give up easily. He modified his routine, taking short breaks and sitting in the shade while the children worked diligently. He continued to share his wisdom and encouragement with them, even if it meant doing so from a distance. The children, in return, took on more responsibilities, showing their appreciation for all Philip had done for them.

As the years passed, Philip's health stabilized, and he was able to actively participate in the garden once again. The community garden had grown not only in size but also in its impact on Ponggol Easr. It had become a place where people of all ages came together, shared stories, and found solace in the simple act of nurturing the earth.

One sunny afternoon, as Philip sat in the garden, he watched the children who had now grown into young adults. They were working together, just as they had when they were kids, but now with a deeper understanding of life's complexities. Philip couldn't help but feel a sense of fulfillment and pride in the legacy he had helped create.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a warm glow over the garden, Philip realized that retirement was not the end of his journey but the beginning of a new chapter. He had discovered that life could be just as vibrant and fulfilling in retirement as it was in his youth, as long as he was willing to embrace change and share his wisdom with others.

In the heart of Ponggol East Philip had found a second wind of inspiration. His story served as a reminder that age is just a number, and that the true measure of a person's life is not in the years lived but in the impact made on the lives of others. Philip's legacy would forever be intertwined with the laughter, growth, and unity that flourished in the community garden—a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit